German-American Discourse on Politics and Culture

October 26, 2012

BAYER steps up big for Mitt Romney

Which German firm has given the most money to the Romney campaign? It turns out that BAYER AG is pla﻿cing its bets on Romney, in the hopes that a Romney administration will repeal existing regulations pertaining to drug and pesticide safety:

(The BAYER corporation in Leverkusen has traditionally been a major
foriegn contributor in US elections. This time - as in past elections -
BAYER is on the side of the Republicans. With donations reaching
$261,000 the Leverkusen corporation is the largest backer of the Republicans, followed by D﻿eutsche Telekom with 193,500 and BASF with 178,000.)

“American politics are in a stranglehold of lobbyists and powerful
donors. This prevents improvements of environmental and consumer
protection. The noble ideal of “One Man, One Vote” in the American
constitution has turned into a disdainful “One Dollar, One Vote”.” The
Coalition demands laws stopping companies from donating to parties,
politicians and think tanks.

During the mid-term elections in 2010, BAYER, BASF and the German
electric provider E.ON specifically backed candidates who deny climate
change or block effective climate laws. BAYER is also one of the
supporters of the American Heartland Institute, which denies the
existence of climate change and was instrumental in the rise of the
reactionary ‘Tea Party’. The institute collects donations from the
industrial sector and uses them, amongst other things, to finance blogs
and pay seemingly neutral organisations – all with the aim of planting
doubt about climate change.

Welcome to post-Citizens United America, where we have the best democracy money can buy.